Pankaj Udhas (Gazal)

Attended a gazal concert by Pankaj Udhas. 

Accompanying Artists were Visual Dhumal (Keyboard), Rashid Mustafa Thirkawa (Tabla), Nirmal Pawar (Side rhythm), Nasir Sajjad Hussein (Mandolin), Ninad Mulaokar (Bansuri). Ashish Choube was in charge of Sound and Vimal Joshi handled light and stage. The program was organized by  India Social and Cultural Centre as part of their Golden Jubilee Celebrations on their roof top on 16th Nov 2017. I attended the concert with Aditi, Mihika, Sucheeta, Jayant, Pooja, Sameer, Rucha, Prakash, Gauri, Jyoti, Pratyush and Vijay.

Gaurav Sharma was called on stage to talk about Pankaj Udhas before the concert. He cracked one joke and spent few minutes on stage screaming, without giving any information about Pankaj Udhas.

Concert started with 'Aap jinke karib hote hai (आप जिनके करीब होते है)'. This song was not as good as it normally is. It was followed by Mumtaz Rashid's gazal 'Niklo na benaqab (निकलो ना बेनकाब)' and 'Diwaron se Milkar rona accha lagat hai (दीवारोंसे मिलकर रोना अच्छा लगता है)'. He then presented Anwar Farukhabadi's famous gazal 'Sabko malum hai main (सब को मालुम है मैं)'.

He then shifted to his film song from movie Sajan 'Jiye to jiye kaise (जिए तो जिए कैसे)'. He sung this one slower than the film version. He then presented one of his most famous 'Chandi Jaisa rang hai tera (चांदी जैसा रंग है तेरा)'. Audience applauded as soon as he started and continued throughout the song. 

There was a very long interval after this song that included speeches and felicitation. This long interval broke the flow of concert. This should have been done before the concert.

First gazal after the break was 'La pila de sakiya (ला पिलादे साकीया)'. Next was 'Aur aahista kijiye batein (और आहिस्ता कीजीए बातें)'. This slow song was followed by one of his most famous 'Hui mehengi bahuthi sharab ke (हुई महंगी बहुत ही शराब के)'. Keyboard player shone in this song with his fast fingers. He then sung 'Tum kitni Sundar ho (तुम कितनी सुंदर हो)'. Audience clapped as soon as he started with 'Na kajre ki dhar (ना कजरेकी धार)'.

Then he presented his most famous song 'Chitthi aai hai (चिठ्ठी आई है)' from film Naam. It was undoubtedly best song of the concert and audience experienced goose bumps.  

He then presented a medley of 'Aaiye barishon is mausam hai (आईए बारीशोंका मौसम है)', 'Sharab cheez aisi hai (शराब चिजही ऐसी है)', 'Aaj fir tumpe pyar aaya hai (आज फिर तुमपे प्यार आया है)' and 'Aye gamein jindagi (ऐ गमे जिंदगी).

Concert concluded with 'Ghungroo toot gaye (घुंगरू टूट गए)'. Musicians were introduced during this song. 

Earlier Pankaj ji said that the audience assumes that the gazal singer imbibes alcohol before the program to come in mood but the inebriation of claps of audience is more than enough for him and alcohol is not required. Well said!

Pankaj ji's voice was shaky at the start of the concert. It stabilized a lot during the concert.  Let's just say today was not the best of his days. 

All the musicians were good. Tabalji drew audience applause multiple times. Side rhythm and Bansuri was good and so was the key board. However, Sajjad Nasir was too good with mandolin. He was the pillar of concert. 

Audio system was very good. Despite it being an open air program there was no deterioration of Sound quality. But the volume of instruments was high, should have been a little low. Sometimes it became harsh and overshadowed vocals. 

Entertainment rating 7/10.